Rate My Professor Ron James

Ron James is an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics within the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney. He held the position of Associate Professor in the same school prior to his retirement in July 2005. His research centers on applied mathematics, with a focus on geomagnetic theory, kinematic dynamos, magnetohydrodynamics, and geophysical fluid dynamics. James has made contributions to multipole analysis of the geomagnetic field, spectral methods for magnetic induction equations, and various antidynamo theorems for flows in spherical geometries and compressible fluids.

Among his key publications are 'Dynamos driven by modified Beltrami flows, and a search for related planar flow dynamos' with A. A. Bachtiar in Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics (2022); 'Dynamo convergence tests, and application to a planar velocity dynamo' (2010); 'Planar velocity dynamos in a sphere' with A. A. Bachtiar and D. J. Ivers in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A (2006); 'An antidynamo theorem for spherically symmetric generation-diffusion conditions' with D. J. Ivers (Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, 1995); 'Antidynamo theorems for non-radial flows' with D. J. Ivers (1988); 'Time-dependent kinematic dynamos with stationary flows' with M. L. Dudley (Royal Society of London. Proceedings. Series A, 1989); 'Axisymmetric antidynamo theorems in compressible non-uniform conducting fluids' with D. J. Ivers (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, 1984); and earlier works such as 'Multipole analysis. I. Theory, and geomagnetic multipoles 1965' (Australian Journal of Physics, 1968) and 'The eccentric dipole' (Pure and Applied Geophysics). James presented seminars including 'Kinematic Dynamos Revisited' at the University of Cambridge and University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1993), 'Computer Algebra in Research and Teaching' at Odense University and Newcastle (1993), and 'Applications of Computer Algebra to Magnetohydrodynamics' at MHD93, University of Exeter. He supervised PhD students, notably Alhaji A. Bachtiar on planar velocity dynamos (2009). Additionally, he co-developed software tools for mathematics education and research, such as tuteman for tutorial management, survey for questionnaires, funplot and surplot for graphics interfaces, and others in the early 1990s.